Asian Marauder Ant
Carebara Diversa
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- Color: Reddish-brown, black, brown
- Worker size: 1.3-18 millimetres
- Colony size: up to 500,000
- Queen: 18-24 millimetres, claustral, polygyne
Introduction
The asian marauder ant is known for its long foraging columns, and may even cover them with dirt. Minor asian marauder ant workers can range from 1.3 mm and 2.5mm. However, asian marauder ants are polymorphic and there are majors and supermajors, and they are magnitudes times larger than their minor worker counterparts. Majors can reach up to 15mm large, and supermajors can be up to 18mm large. This means that some majors can be 10x larger than minors! Think about that. That's such a large surface area and volume increase! The queens are even larger of them all, at 18mm to 24mm. The asian marauder ant workers move at a pace of around 1-3m/h or 4-5m/h depending on castes. They have a black-ish head and a brownish red thorax and abdomen. They have stingers and will bite you.
Unique Traits
Valiant Warriors
Asian marauder ants have a wide range of sizes from around 1.3-2.5mm for minors to 15mm for majors. Asian marauder ants are extremely aggressive, territorial, and hostile. They will attack any and all who enter their nest boundaries.
Defences
The asian marauder ant has a large caste of majors that are extremely large and powerful. They can sting and swarm a rival ant colony or their prey. Their sting can cause tissue damage to humans, and are enough to kill their enemies. They are effective killers and shouldn't be underestimated.
Habitat & Diet
Asian marauder ants live in, well, Asia. Its habitat goes from India all the way to China and Taiwan. Carebara diversa are omnivorous, meaning that they can eat both plant and animal matter. They feast on insects and things like nuts, seeds, and fruit, which supplies them with protein, sugar, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, and many more essential nutrients. They are known for their extremely flexible foraging technique, being able to carry a feast back to the nest, letting the nest grow massively. They also have extremely efficient foraging techniques, supplying the colony with food at all times.
Sources:
- https://www.bestantsuk.com/post/the-ultimate-guide-to-raising-carebara-diversa-asian-marauder-ants
- https://www.doctorbugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Marauder-Ants-2019.pdf
- https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_75-1